Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If you saw the movie Gravity this past year, you’ll certainly remember the way it opened. The words, fading in and out at the bottom left corner of a black screen:
At 372 miles above Earth the temperature fluctuates between +258 and -148 degrees Fahrenheit.
There is nothing to carry sound.
No air pressure. No oxygen.
And then ending with the obvious conclusion of all of that:
Life in space is impossible. [read more]
-> [read more]